They're Still Kids
by hellomynameisv
Summary: Sometimes, even the most elite profilers need to play this good 'ol game.


He walked slowly down the dimly lit hallway, flashlight in hand, listening for even the slightest sound. Suddenly, the faint sound of shuffling papers reached his ears. It seemed to have come from the closed storage closet down the hall.

He walked to the door, quickly and silently, with practiced ease, and reached his hand out for the door knob. It was unlocked. Slowly, he inched the door open just enough to slip inside.

The towering file cabinets seemed to be fine, undisturbed. He swept through the entire cramped space, finding nothing. Strange. He could've sworn he heard something from in here.

Just then, a lone piece of paper leisurely floated down to the floor, right in front of his eyes. He looked up.

"Aw, come on, Hotch! How do you always find _me _first?" Morgan complained. He seemed to be laying on top of a file cabinet, attempting to hide his muscular frame behind some boxes.

"Well, that's because you always make the most noise." He replied. "Now, do you know where any of the others are?"

"Nope, nada, zilch. Lips zipped."

Hotch sighed. This was going to take longer than he thought, time they didn't have.

He crept into the bullpen, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Just when he thought nobody was there, he tripped over something, falling to the ground.

He quickly stood up and brushed the dust off of his suit, trying to look more dignified than he felt. He looked at the spot where he tripped. Huh, there was nothing there.

What had he tripped over? Was it the floor? His own two feet? Had he accidentally kicked the object somewhere when he fell? Was there an invisible ghost in the building?

He shook that thought away. Maybe Jack's current fear of ghosts was getting to him.

Suddenly, a bout of laughter interrupted his train of thought. Was that...

"JJ?"

"Yeah," she replied, barely holding in the giggles, and crawled out from under Emily's desk.

"I already heard Morgan's annoyed shouting, so I figured, why not trip people passing by the desks?"

"Uh huh," he said.

"I already got Anderson earlier. That was my shoe you tripped on, by the way. Tell me you didn't feel at least a little bit embarrassed!" She said with a mischievous grin.

He turned away and exited the bullpen, trying not to let a smile break his stoic facade and giving her the satisfaction she wanted.

A while later, he passed by Garcia's empty office. He looked inside. The door was open and everything seemed to be the way it always was. _Of course she wouldn't hide in such an obvious place_, he reprimanded himself. He didn't bother going inside. There weren't many places to hide in there.

He walked away, but soon looked back as something caught his attention. Did the room move? He looked right at the room and scrutinized it with his intense gaze. _No, it couldn't have_, he told himself. If Reid were here, he probably would've given a long, drawn-out scientific explanation on the subject. He didn't have time for that.

As he turned away again, the room seemed to flicker. Turning back, he decided to step into the room. Maybe there were ghosts here after all.

But, in the process of doing that, his foot brushed upon some fabric. _What the_, he thought as he pulled the fabric down, revealing a staring Garcia with a computer in her arms.

"What was that?" He asked. The team had tried quite unusual tactics before, but this one was a first.

"Well, sir, you remember that Mission: Impossible movie where they're trying to sneak into some room, right in front of a guard's eyes? So they use this screen to trick the guard into thinking the room is empty, when, really, they're just projecting a picture of an empty room in order to get to the closet."

"So, you...wanted to try it out?"

"Yes, sir, and it worked out pretty well until you decided to go into the room."

He decided not to say anything about the many flaws of this tactic and strode out of the room to look for his other targets. It was almost 7:00. They were running out of time.

He decided to go through all the offices a second time. JJ's was empty, Rossi's was empty, his office was empty. He walked up to Strauss's closed office door. _Let's not check that one_, he thought to himself.

Finally, he got to the currently unoccupied office of a retired federal agent and walked in. There was nothing in the room, other than the desk, three chairs, and a shelf, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone, _or something_, was watching him.

He looked up, finding Emily looking down at him, face red from trying to keep in her laughter. Her arms and legs were all spread out to keep her on the ceiling.

"Hey, Hotch! Come on, it's been, like, hours. You know how hard it was to stay up here?" She complained.

"Do I want to know how you got up there in the first place?" He asked.

"Probably not."

He walked out of the office. _Two more left_, he thought.

He had just gotten down the stairs and into the bullpen when he heard a small crash from behind him.

JJ, Morgan, and Garcia had gathered near Reid's desk, chatting about who-knows-what.

"Hey Hotch! You find everyone yet? It's 7:00." Morgan asked.

"Nope. Just you guys and Emily."

He talked with them, discussing places he had not yet checked when Morgan visibly stiffened. He turned around and saw the reason why: Unit Chief Erin Strauss had just exited the elevator. He gave her a curt nod as she walked toward her office.

Emily had just exited the abandoned office, with a new bruise on her face, frazzled hair, and rumpled clothes. When Strauss passed her, she gave her a sidelong glance and then continued walking to her destination, muttering something about profilers and their dress habits as she closed the door.

They continued brainstorming ideas. Stairwell, possibly. Under one of the desks, probably not. Inside the cleaning closet, most likely. He decided to check those places after Strauss got her cup of morning tea.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was gazing at them suspiciously, sensing some mischief, so they all started talking about a made-up case with six dead clowns and a killer bunny.

A surprised yelp interrupted them. They turned their attention to Strauss, who had decided to open one of the cabinets for a bag of tea and had instead been met with Dr. Spencer Reid, whose face was slowly turning red as he realized who had found him.

"Ah, right. The cabinets," he heard Morgan mutter behind him. Sometimes, they forgot how small Reid really was.

"Agent Hotchner! What is the meaning of this?" Strauss commanded.

Before he could formulate some reasonable sounding response, she continued, "You and your team have a job to do! I will not accept these foolish games and childish endeavors in the work environment, such as the game of hide-and-seek."

She stormed into her office, forgetting about her tea. The team turned to Reid, who had a sheepish smile on his face, and crawled out of the cabinet.

"Come on, guys," he complained. "You were supposed to tell us the game was over when it became 7:00!"

"Well, where's the fun in that?" Morgan asked.

"How did you know Strauss wouldn't arrive 15 minutes late?" Emily responded.

"How did you know Strauss wouldn't arrive on time?" Reid retorted with a slightly annoyed face. After a moment, he continued, "Did I win?"

They all looked around.

"Wait, we forgot about Rossi," Garcia noted.

"I'm calling his phone," Hotch announced.

They all listened for the sound of Rossi's ringtone. At first, there was nothing, but suddenly, they heard the noise coming from a certain office.

"I thought that place was off-limits," JJ said.

"Do you really think Rossi's in there?" Reid asked, concern lacing his voice.

"Well, if he is, I'm not sticking around to find out," Morgan said as he dashed to the elevator, the entire team following in his footsteps.

As Hotch left the bullpen, he could hear the loud, angry voice of Strauss yelling obscenities.

Evidently, Rossi had not adhered to the don't-hide-in-Strauss's-office-or-you'll-regret-it-for-the-rest-of-your-life-rule.


End file.
